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BUILD THE BOXES, BUT BUY THE DOORS Making cabinet doors is tedious and doubles the amount of time needed to build a kitchen, so I prefer to let someone else do it. Before I start building cabinets, I order doors and drawer fronts from an outside supplier. They're usually ready (sanded and finished) by the time I've completed the cabinet cases. It's hard for me to meet the quality/price ratio that a shop can deliver. For suppliers, see "Mix and Match: Mail-Order Cabinets" in FHB #1 59. Some other smart characteristics are shown below. Upper cabinet Doors and drawer fronts can be ordered in any size and in a wide variety of styles. Factory-applied finish is also an option, but may be hard to match to cabinet boxes. Use concealed hinges. They are complex-looking and more expensive than other types of hinges, but they're adjustable in three directions, making the doors easier to install. Base cabinet Simplify the joinery. Cabinet cases are made from :%-in. plywood. Assembly is done with glue and 1 Sfs-in. trim screws. Use %-in. plywood backs to square the cases. Eliminate shelves in base cabinets. Drawers and roll-out shelves make base cabinets more useful. With a drilling jig, drawer-slide hardware is easy to install. Use applied end panels. Exposed screws in case sides will be hidden when cabinets are joined together. For end-of-run cabinet sides, use finished plywood panels. The toe kick isn't part of the cabinet. Simplify case construction (and cabinet installation) by setting the cabinet box on a platform framed in 2x material. ONLINE EXTRA To see a video of Sven Hanson making story poles for a kitchen-cabinet job, go to www.finehomebuilding.com. Use full-extension drawer slides. For slightly sticky drawers, drawer width can be adjusted finely by sliding the drawer box through a tablesaw with the blade height set at about 2 in. FEBRUARY/MARCH 2006 73